This is yet another instance in which the manufacturers are the most perfectly-placed to step up and take responsibility for their own production decisions.

They will know how old and in what condition each seat is. They also should be best able to recycle the seats that are ineligible for re-use. Perhaps a seat is young enough to be reused, but for how long? Will it expire halfway through the career of the second owner?

It's another opportunity to push for cradle-to-cradle manufacturing practices. All manufacturers receive an invisible subsidy in that it's left to purchasers and localities to pay for recycling or disposal of their cast-off products. If they make it, they need to OWN the ancillary burdens of it through the product's entire life-cycle.

Charge original buyers a deposit (to be returned) for bringing the spent seats back to any baby store for return to the manufacturer for recycling as part of the purchase price.

Maybe the deposit is picked up by the locality for low-income folks, since they won't need to dig a pit to put it in.

One other thought: Why don't automobile manufacturers have their own designs for child restraints purpose-made to fit their cars? One imagines they'd be good for the life of the car, as all the other seating and safety-related systems are. Not least, they'd be easier to install! Volvo made a feeble effort at this with their child booster seats on some models. Do they still even do that much?

Too much design energy (and potential for failure) is due to these seat manufacturers having to make the harness attachment points vague enough to fit any car. This leads to greater likelihood of improper (unsafe) installations by new parents who've got a LOT on their minds already. I say, get the auto companies to tackle designing this value-added device into each car (as an option, at least, available to be bought and installed at the dealer).

For car seats?  Interesting concept!  I've never before heard it it suggested for child car seats. Not sure it would work.  Who makes most child seats today, and where do they manufacture them (I'm guessing most not in the US).  What would be the pressure points to apply to get them to undertake take-back (most industries, especially in the US, fight the idea)?  What level would you set the deposit (or an advance recovery fee) at that would reduce consumer, producer, retailer resistance to the scheme?  

Something else I wonder about, since my kids are big now and it's been about 15 years since I last looked at a child car seat: what plastic resin is being used to manufacture them?  [Are they even marked?]   Unless it is PET or HDPE, you might have a hard time finding a recycler willing to pay to recycle them.  Curb services may accept the plastic casings for pick up, but not actually recycle them (in which case, what is the point, to my mind).

How easy it would be to turn a kiddie car seat into a backyard swing. (Or even a swing on the front porch, etc., if you don't have a yard.) Though your child will eventually outgrow it, the refurbished "swing seat" would make an excellent garage sale item.

Child's car seats are one of the items I see most frequently abandoned along streets in the SF Bay Area. They always give me a moment of panic: Did someone leave their baby behind? No, just one more harried parent whose kid outgrew the seat and couldn't figure out what else to do with it. I'm sure each one would fail Umbra's guidelines for re-use. I hope parents push the manufacturers for a take-back plan.

Volkswagen sells a minivan in Europe that has built-in child seats as an option. Its called Volkswagen Sharan.  A friend of mine owns one and says its great and very convenient to fold away when not needed.  Of course this seat doesn't work for infants, but it seems like it should be possible to figure out a good solution for that too.

the true environmentalist does not have kids, or at least limits their procreation to one child. There is no way around the fact that having kids puts a strain on the environment. Umbra's column before this one was on how reusable cloth diapers are not significantly better than their disposable counterpart. In that article, she mentioned some of the other ways where increasing the size of one's family will inevitably put added strain on the ecosystem, as having kids means using more resources. Sure, I can take the moral high ground on this as I am not able to have children due to reproductive health issues that lead to my hysterectomy (which I had at a young age). I guess I also have the privelege of taking the highground on not having use for female hygene products that fill our landfills. Yes, it is a convenient truth for me, until you realize the constant pain I have endured due to illness caused from PCBs in the groundwater of the place where I grew up. But the thing is, if I would have been able to give birth, I would have chose not to.
The population crisis appears to be the environmental elephant in the room. No one wants to discuss it because it is truly the most inconvenient truth of all. But what makes it worse is that society pressures people to have children. If you choose to remain childless (and shudder to think that you choose to remain single and childless), you are ostracized by society, or at least in the U.S. It is time we take a different approach. There was a time for "Maybe One" (referring to the book written on the subject by Bill McKibben), but now is the time for "maybe none." People have to reexamine their reasons for having children. Please do not have children for any of the following:
To keep your marriage together. Trust me, this doesn't work. I have a friend who thought she could avoid the truth about her marriage if she had a baby. BIG MISTAKE!
Societal pressures. Whether it is because a doctor advises you that this will help your reproductive health (I got a lot of that, but these arguments have been scientifically refuted by the Endometriosis Association) or if it is your only way to get health care coverage or other benefits, just don't do it. These are the wrong reasons for having kids. Do not bear children for cheap commodities. Do not bear children because your other middle class friends are having kids. Get past the pressure and start speaking up if you truly do not want children. It is your responsibility to do so!
Do not have children because you want to have a clone of you that might be able to acheive what you have not. I see too many parents who fall into this category. They live vicariously through their kids, often making their children miserable. This is vanity, and it is a deadly sin. It is certainly deadly where the planet is concerned.
Do not fall for any religious garbage about procreation. The texts this argument is based on were written when the earth's population was around 150 million, not over 6 billion! Be fruitful and multiply no longer applies. It is time to stock up on your favorite method of birth control and turn the other cheek when your religious leader tries to make you feel bad about not wanting to contribute to the population crisis.

And now to sit back and wait for the complaints.

Another method for reducing the impact of car seat purchases is to get one that lasts a long time.  Several toddler seats can last from 5-35 lbs rear facing and up to 65 lb front facing - the Britax Decathalon is one example.  Infant seats with a separate base are incredibly helpful for their portability, but by 9 mos an infant is often too heavy to carry in an infant seat anyway.  At this point, if not before, it is smart to make a long term investment in a convertable toddler seat rather than getting one that only goes up to 40 lbs.  I bought a used infant seat - since it was only used for 9 mos or so, another child would be able to use it as well.  

There are also a number of toddler seats that convert to boosters.  In Massachusetts children are required to be in a booster seat until 8 years old - that would be a lot of car seats if you have to buy one for each 10-lb weight gain!

And CountBlah - I thank you for taking a slightly less reactionary approach than some - I agree that those are terrible reasons to bring a new life into the world.  I also think Grist (and other enviro-mags) have realized that parents have strong environmental interests and it doesn't make sense to exclude them from the conversation.  Yes it would be environmentally better not to have children - there's no way around that.  But if you choose to have children (and your points adress this choice), there are more environmentally friendly ways to do things.  

9am-1pm Wednesday, Sep 24 at IKEA in Renton.

SafeKids King County will collect used car seats and send them to a facility where more than 95% of the gross weight will be recycled into reusable materials.

Certified safety technicians will also be on hand to inspect the car seats.  If they are reusuable they will be prepared for redistribution to families in need through the Pass-It Program.

The event also includes:
FREE Car Seat Inspections
Donations accepted of basic baby needs for WestSide Baby and Pregnancy Aid King County
Custom Helmet fitting for $7

Let's make every child's world a little safer in an environmentally responsible way!